Lions Gab: No need to overreact to rookie Darius Slay's surgery

May 8, 2013

Darius Slay / Associated Press

Written by

Anthony Kuehn

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Anthony Kuehn is the editor of the Detroit Lions blog Lions Gab . His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. Get in touch with Anthony at lionsgab@gmail.com or on Twitter @lionsgab.

Let’s start with the facts. The Lions drafted cornerback Darius Slay in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft. Slay had a slight meniscus tear that teams were aware of. Slay was projected by many to be a first round pick. Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said he was confident that Slay would participate in rookie camp.

Mayhew has gotten burned by drafting injured players in the past, but not all injuries can be lumped together. Ryan Broyles suffered a torn ACL in college and the Lions drafted him in the second round. Broyles then tore his other ACL in his rookie season. Somehow, fans want those two injuries to be related despite them happening on different limbs in different ways. Broyles did not have medical flags saying he was more likely than other players to tear an ACL, he simply tore an ACL and had the bad luck to tear the other one.

Matthew Stafford never missed a game in his life, but then missed significant time in his first two seasons. Was that Mayhew’s fault? Of course not. Gosder Cherilus came into the league with known knee issues and he hardly missed any time. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t.

The only player Mayhew took a significant injury risk on was Jahvid Best, who had two very highly publicized concussions in college. Best became the NFL poster child for their new concussion initiative, which probably has more to do with bad luck than anything. .

The Lions knew Slay had a slight meniscus tear and despite Mayhew saying he thought Slay would participate in rookie camp, they knew he would eventually have to have the issue addressed surgically.

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Slay is not damaged goods; he doesn’t need reconstructive knee surgery or anything drastic. He had a small piece of damaged cartilage removed from his knee and he has an eight-week recovery time. This injury has very little impact on his long term health unless he sustains a serious injury to the same knee. This surgery does not make that significantly more likely.

The Lions got burned last season by a similar situation with Louis Delmas, whose knee wasn’t 100%, but a decision was made to rehab it and play through the issue rather than opt for surgery. Delmas’ knee started swelling up in training camp and surgery became the only option to alleviate the injury. At that point, there was no way Delmas would have enough time to recover without missing significant time. He ended up missing the first five weeks of the season.

The Lions have approximately 12 weeks before training camp starts and Slay’s recovery time is estimated to be eight weeks. A simple opportunity cost analysis was done.

He needs to have the surgery and he can do it now or he can do it later. By waiting, he would have to make it through the whole offseason, training camp, preseason, regular season and possibly the postseason without aggravating the injury. Or he can have the surgery now, avoid any potential complications or issues and be back in time for training camp.

Ideally, the goal is to avoid injured players but the goal is also to add talented players. A GM has the opportunity to add a player with a first-round grade in the second round in a year where the team had fewer first-round-graded players than ever before. Should he pass on that player because he may need a minor procedure that will cost him eight weeks of offseason work his rookie year?

If Slay didn’t have the surgery before the season and ended up aggravating the injury and having to miss half the season, fans would lampoon Mayhew. What would the reaction be if the Lions passed on Slay because of the injury and drafted a different corner that doesn’t perform as well as Slay?

Slay is an injury risk, but he is a small risk. If he pans out and plays well, fans will praise Mayhew. If Slay ends up being overshadowed by another player or suffers some other injury, then Mayhew is to blame. The bottom line is fans who don’t like Mayhew will search for reasons to validate that viewpoint and Slay’s surgery gives them that chance.

As always, winning cures all in the NFL. If the Lions go 12-4 but Slay misses the whole season, fans will not care about his injury as much as if they go 4-12 and he is healthy all season. Before reacting, let’s just let this thing play out and see where we end up.